A few weeks ago, many of us who call Connecticut home witnessed just how power works. I am referring here to the way in which the country’s institutions profess opportunity for all, then deny it for some, and not others.

To be precise, in Gov. Ned Lamont’s veto of the moderate H.B. 5002, we heard the now prototypical commitment to our nations’ ideals, followed by its predictable abandonment.

In our fear of the “other,” it seems, we continuously deny the right to a basic life well lived to all. Surely, the issue of housing is not just one of a house and its moorings, it is also one of the basic standard of living we would expect for any of our neighbors.

This recent vote for the bill was overwhelmingly about decency; and it is indecent, that some of us in Connecticut are able to go back to a house that is a home, at the same time that others live an existence of worry, fear, despair, of mere existence.   

How can we really proclaim that the American Dream is one for all when it is really only for some? As a devoted citizen of Connecticut, I believe it is all of our responsibility to ensure everyone has access to a true home. Yes, we already build affordable housing in locations where it is considered “acceptable,” but if a house in which a basic life well-lived is denied, it is not really a home.

You see, in Connecticut, as in so much of the country, many of us were never destined to own a home. From the country’s very inception, coded rhetoric and legislation served to separate those who “mattered,” and those who were “underserving.” With the passing of the Fair Housing Administration that restricted household living to certain groups; and redlining that created residential segregation benefitting only some Americans; those in power set a clear precedent regarding the kind of living conditions we call acceptable today.

This selective denial of liberty that started with these earlier tactics has regrettably been perpetuated still, through exclusionary zoning practices, such the pervasive enforcement of single-family-only areas in most suburbs and towns. This impervious imbalance within housing segregation has also been perpetuated by the softening of modern laws such as the 8-30g statute.

Amendments to this law – which simply set basic standards for municipalities with low levels of affordable housing – have made it increasingly ineffective in guaranteeing any housing reform at all. Finally, through the relentless insistence on local control, as well as the incredibly complex bureaucracy that faces almost all proposals for affordable housing, the exclusion of the unhoused and cost-burdened renter is nearly complete. 

You may understand the act of building affordable housing is not just an act of kindness, but one of absolute necessity in a state with some of the most separate but unequal housing anywhere in the country. To reprise, housing is not only a stabilizing anchor, but also an opportunity to truly live. With it, not only do our children have the opportunity to thrive, but residents have access to healthier lifestyles, more accessible transportation, and also greater means to achieve the life they truly desire.

We are doing no favors here by asking everyone to open their hearts and minds to another individual they don’t yet know. Just the opposite: it is our duty as both citizens of Connecticut and the nation as we know it to allow everyone an equal chance to thrive. For decades or longer, millions have been denied this opportunity. In our decision to tell these citizens where they can and cannot live, many of us return to rationalizations of the “other” as lazy, incompetent, fundamentally deficient. What’s more, we speak of these matters, not through language that makes plain and clear these misunderstandings; but in code, through which rational, surface level discourse effectively stifles discussion altogether.

All I simply ask: let’s get to know a future neighbor before we deny them a chance at a life well lived. Let’s come to know them, alongside ourselves, as people willing to negotiate our shared space, before denying them something we wouldn’t dare deny ourselves.

Now is the time to open the doors of life, liberty and a life well lived to everyone.

Jackie McDougall lives in Norwalk.